Travel allowance calculator
Use your logbook to estimate your SARS travel deduction. Add the cost of the vehicle and your kilometres. No account is needed, and nothing you enter leaves this page.
How this works
The calculator applies the official SARS Rate per Kilometre Schedule for the 2027 year of assessment (effective 1 March 2026). Your vehicle value selects a row of the cost scale: a fixed cost for the year, plus fuel and maintenance rates in cents per kilometre. The fixed cost is divided by your total kilometres, fuel and maintenance are added if you carried those costs yourself, and the resulting rate multiplied by your logbook business kilometres is your deduction. If your employer reimburses per kilometre instead of paying an allowance, the simplified rate is R4.95 per kilometre for 2026/27.
Frequently asked questions
How is a travel allowance taxed in South Africa?
Your employer withholds PAYE on 80% of the allowance during the year (20% if the car is used mostly for business). At assessment, your logbook business kilometres convert into a deduction using the SARS deemed cost table or your actual costs, which can bring much of the tax back.
What is the SARS rate per kilometre for 2026/27?
The simplified reimbursement rate is R4.95 per kilometre from 1 March 2026. It applies when an employer reimburses actual business kilometres and no other travel allowance is paid for the same vehicle. Allowance earners claim using the deemed cost table instead.
Do I need a logbook to claim?
Yes. Without a logbook recording opening and closing odometer readings and every business trip, SARS allows no claim at all. Home to your normal workplace counts as private travel.
Should I claim deemed costs or actual costs?
Deemed costs need only your logbook and vehicle value, and suit most people. Actual costs can beat the table when real expenses are unusually high, but require invoices for everything. You may choose whichever gives the larger deduction each year.
No logbook yet?
A SARS compliant travel logbook template, ready to fill in from your next trip. R190.
Get the logbook →What is the refund worth?
Feed your deductions into the refund estimator and see the year's picture.
Estimate my refund →Working from home too?
Check what your home office share of rent, rates and power is worth.
Work it out →Deemed costs per SARS PAYE-GEN-01-G03-A01 (2027 tax year, effective 1 March 2026). Your assessment depends on your logbook and SARS verification. Free tools are estimates, not tax advice.